Soil Mixture; Planting Seeds; DAVID ARTHUR

Hello Daylily Friends,

I have been so busy this past
week working toward getting all of my seeds planted.  I like to use a particular soil mixture when I plant my seeds, and so it takes me a little longer to get it all done.  I start with several loads of soil from my friends at "Wood Tech Mulch & Soils."  Here is their website address: www.woodtechmulch.com/.  Wood Tech has a very interesting operation, and I may write about this over the next several days.  I buy a truck load of soil mixture from Wood Tech that costs $50.88.  A great buy!  In my first picture I'm showing two loads of soil that are out behind my Greenhouse.  I fill my smaller wheel barrow about

2/3rds full of the Wood Tech soil.  I then add 4 hand fulls of Magnesium Sulphate (Epson Salts), and 1 cup of Florikan 16-4-9 fertilizer.  Next, I fill my small wheel barrow with "Aged Pine Bark" from Fafard.  Then, I mix the materials together using my 10-prong fork.  I like the 10-prong fork because from experience I have found it to be the most helpful in mixing everything together.

Then, I take my small wheel barrow, and empty the contents into my bigger wheel barrow.  I then mix everything again.  I keep mixing everything so that the Aged Pine Bark, the Magnesium Sulphate, and the Fertilizer are equally distributed in all parts of the soil.  I am often asked about the Florikan Fertilizer that I use.  In my opinion, it is the best fertilizer that exists on the market today.  Here is an important fact: it does not burn seedlings.  If you are really interested in the Florikan, you can visit them at their website which is as follows: http://www.florikan.com/.

I like to plant my seeds into 3" Jiffy peat pots.  These peat pots are readily available, with trays.  You should purchase the peat pots and plastic trays together.  Now I realize that three inches isn't much for a growing daylily seedling, but in about six weeks, I will move these peat pots to larger containers.  I will be careful not to disturb the roots.  The remaining peat pots will be planted outside the Greenhouse.

I thought that you might like to see my Greenhouse with all of my seeds planted.  Actually, the last seeds were planted on Sunday, August 7, 2011.  I like growing seeds in the peat pots, with the soil mixture I've talked about, because this process helps assure that I see blooms in one year.  It is important to see blooms in one year so as to try to keep pace with the South Florida hybridizers.  Oh, one other thing.  My daylily, DAVID ARTHUR, has just been blooming and blooming and blooming in our back yard, with tall 4-way branching.  In this hot summer weather it keeps blooming as a double.  Thought that you might like to see DAVID ARTHUR.

Bill